


Rustboro Ruckus

by magumarashi



Series: Hoenn Memories [3]
Category: Pocket Monsters: Ruby & Sapphire & Emerald | Pokemon Ruby Sapphire Emerald Versions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-22
Updated: 2014-10-11
Packaged: 2019-01-30 02:19:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12644151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magumarashi/pseuds/magumarashi
Summary: Laura's journey continues in Rustboro city, where Team Magma is once again stirring up trouble.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Decided to make this one a three-parter instead of a standalone thing.

Laura’s first gym battle went surprisingly smoothly. The leader was a surly older man who looked like he belonged on an archaeological dig rather than in a Pokémon gym, and he used exclusively rock-type Pokémon in the battle. With Mudkip and a Seedot she’d captured earlier, Laura was able to win easily.

Laura admired the metal pin in her new badge case. There was space enough for seven more badges alongside it. She couldn’t wait to show the badge to Terry: she’d just arrived in town the previous day, and she’d already beaten the Gym Leader. She had no doubt that Terry would be impressed.

As she made her way to the Pokémon Center, she heard some shouts of distress from up the street. Several people turned to watch, and she followed suit. A man in red was running away from several men in business suits, a young boy among them.

“Steven!” shouted one of the businessmen, “You have a Pokémon, right? Send it after him!”

“Oh?” the man in red stopped, “If it’s a battle you want, I’ll take you up on it!”

The man in red threw a Pokéball, and a Poochyena appeared on the road in front of him.

“Uh…!” The grey-haired boy paused. Laura recognized him as the boy she’d met previously, in Petalburg Woods. He took a Pokéball from his pocket, “Um…! Beldum, go!”

He threw the Pokéball, and a one-eyed, metallic Pokémon popped from it.

“Poochyena, bite!”

“Uh!! Beldum… um…”

Poochyena did not wait for Steven to give a command; it ran forward and chomped down on Steven’s Pokémon. The Pokémon didn’t seemed too fazed by the attack–in fact, Poochyena leaped away and buried its snout in its paws. Beldum’s metal shell had hurt its opponent more than Poochyena had hurt it.

“If that won’t work… Poochyena, boost your attack power with Howl!”

Poochyena stood up and howled, pumping itself up for its next attack.

“Now, Beldum! Um…! Attack?”

“Steven, do you even know how to battle?” asked one of the businessmen. Steven hesitated, but then shook his head.

“I’m sorry!” he said, “I don’t know how…!”

“What a joke!” said the man in red. He recalled Poochyena, “Come back when you can put up a fight! Until then–hasta la vista!”

The man in red tore off again, leaving the businessmen and Steven standing in the road.

“We’ll never catch him without Pokémon to help us…” said the businessman who’d spoken earlier, “I guess that prototype is lost for good…”

“No!” said Steven, “We can still get it back! If we don’t, father will be…”

“But what can we do?”

“I’m going after him!” said Steven, “All of you stay here!”

Steven recalled Beldum and took off after the grunt. The people around Laura started to talk amongst themselves.

“He’s just a young boy…” said an older woman, “And with a Pokémon he doesn’t know how to command? I’m worried…”

“It looked like that thug was headed for the tunnel. Will the boy be alright?”

“I’ll make sure he doesn’t get hurt,” Laura volunteered, “I’ve already saved his behind once this week.”

“Please be careful,” said the older woman, “The road to Rusturf tunnel is full of tall grass.”

“I’ll be okay,” said Laura, “I have four Pokémon. Nothing to worry about.”

* * *

Laura managed to catch up to Steven before he’d gotten too far. He hadn’t even left the city proper yet, and she found him standing near the sign for Route 116.

“Hey,” said Laura as she approached him. He jumped before turning to face her.

“Oh, it’s you, from the other day,” he said, “Thanks again, by the way…”

“Yeah, yeah. I saw what happened just now,” said Laura, “That guy… he was from Team Magma, wasn’t he?”

“Yes. Also the same from last time, in fact.”

“You were going after him earlier… What’s stopping you?”

“If you saw what happened, then you must already know,” said Steven, looking away, “It’s true… I don’t know how to battle.”

“But you have a Pokémon!” said Laura, “The other day, didn't you say you could have handled it yourself? You were only going to use your Pokémon if things got bad–!”

“I _was_!” said Steven, “I was stalling for time, hoping someone would come to my aid before I had to make a fool of myself trying to battle. And I… I only said I could’ve handled it myself because…”

Steven blushed.

“Because I wanted to impress you.”

“Seriously?” said Laura, “Ugh, come on. That guy’s gonna get away at this rate.”

“Not likely,” said Steven, “Rusturf Tunnel hasn’t been completed yet. People were digging the tunnel with giant drills, but they noticed that the loud machinery was disturbing the local Pokémon, so they had to stop the project. If that man is heading to Rusturf Tunnel, he’ll be cornered.”

“Sounds like a perfect opportunity to nail ‘im,” said Laura, “Let’s walk and talk, okay?”

“S…sure…” said Steven, “You… you’re going to help me fight him?”

“Of course!” said Laura, “I can’t expect you to do it yourself!”

Steven flushed even more brightly. Laura started walking, and Steven ran to catch up to her. Before long they fell into pace beside each other, avoiding tall grass and shrugging off trainers who tried to fight them. Steven seemed much more timid now than he had the last time they met, Laura noticed. He jumped every time a wild Pokémon crossed their path, and he held Beldum’s Pokéball tightly as they walked.

“So why do you have a Pokémon if you can’t battle with it?” asked Laura after some time.

“My father gave me Beldum as a playmate when I was younger,” said Steven, “But I was never allowed to battle with it. I sort of know how battling works; I watch plenty of tournaments on TV. But I don’t know what attacks Beldum can use.”

“Is your dad protective of you?” asked Laura.

“You could say that, yes,” said Steven, “I’ve always wanted to be a proper trainer, with a card and everything… but father worries about me going off on my own, even with a Pokémon."

"Yeesh," said Laura. "Sounds like he cares about you a little  _too_ much. Doesn't want his little boy to get hurt, huh?"

"It’s not that he’s worried about me hurting myself or getting lost," said Steven defensively. "It’s… well, my father is Mr. Stone, the president of the Devon Corporation. He’s a very important and well-known person, and as his son…”

“He’s worried about someone kidnapping you,” Laura finished for him.

“Yes, put bluntly. The other day was the first time he’s trusted Beldum and me to run an errand outside of Rustboro. It figures that the thug chose that day to heckle me…”

“But if your father let you become a trainer, you could defend yourself, right?” said Laura, “He wouldn’t have to worry so much about you if you had strong Pokémon at your side.”

“I’ve wanted to try telling him that, but… I just don’t have the courage,” Steven admitted, “I love my father, he’s a wonderful man, but he can be very intimidating.”

“Well,” said Laura, “If you’d like, maybe we can try telling him together? You’ll have a bona-fide Pokémon trainer backing you up!”

“You would do that?”

“Yeah! I dunno if it’ll work, but it’s worth a shot.”

Steven looked at his feet.

“Thank you…”

“No problem,” said Laura, “Now come on. We’ve gotta get that thing back!”

“Prototype,” Steven corrected her.

“Right. That.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven and Laura corner the Team Magma Grunt in Rusturf tunnel--but the grunt isn't about to give up without a fight.

The entrance to Rusturf Tunnel was at the base of a craggy mountain; the entrance itself was framed by an arch made of cleanly-cut rock. Laura marveled at it as the two of them walked inside.

“For an unfinished tunnel, it looks pretty fancy,” she commented.

“Well, it was going to be a well-used thoroughfare, after all,” said Steven, “Mauville and Rustboro are two of Hoenn’s largest commercial centers, but no roads connect them directly. Rusturf Tunnel was going to bridge that gap, so the project’s sponsors wanted to make it look as nice as Hoenn’s other major roads.”

“You sure know a lot about this,” said Laura, “How old are you, twelve?”

“ _Thirteen_ ,” Steven corrected her, “And of course I know. Devon Corporation was a major sponsor of the project, and my father made sure I knew what was going on.”

“Why?” asked Laura, “What would a kid need to know _that_ for?”

“Well…” said Steven, “I am my father’s only son, so there’s some expectation that I will take over the company someday. He’s never told me this directly, of course, but I’m not stupid. He’s always telling me about Devon’s projects and partnerships and stock prices and whatever else.”

“Yikes,” said Laura, “No wonder he doesn’t want you to be a trainer. He probably doesn’t want you skipping out on him.”

“I hadn’t looked at it that way, but honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if–!”

There was a sharp cry at their feet, and the two of them jumped back in surprise. A small pink and orange Pokémon stood at their feet, emitting a shrieking wail that would have woken a Snorlax.

“What the heck?!” Laura clapped her hands to her ears, “What is that–?”

“Shoo, shoo!” said Steven. He nudged the shrieking Pokémon cautiously with his toe. It jumped and ran away as fast as its stubby feet could carry it, its wailing dying down as it got farther away.

“What kind of Pokémon was that?” said Laura.

“That was a Whismur,” said Steven “They’re common in the mountains and caves around here. They’re big cowards who cry out at the slightest things.”

“So _that’s_ a Whismur…” said Laura. She knew the phrase ‘Don’t be such a Whismur,’ but had never seen one in person before. She wasn’t sure she wanted to train one.

“Yeah,” said Steven, “They’re the reason we had to stop digging Rusturf Tunnel. The drills really bothered them, and they wouldn’t stop crying.”

“Ah…” Laura looked around to make sure there weren’t any more, “Do you know how far the tunnel goes?”

“No… I’ve never gone to Rusturf Tunnel by myself.”

“Well, we’ll just have to keep moving then.”

They continued for a while, occasionally running into Whismur as they walked. The path continued straight ahead, diverging occasionally into smaller, shorter tunnels that only Pokémon could traverse. The diggers didn’t seem to have shown much concern for existing structures in the cave.

It wasn’t long before they came upon the end of the tunnel: a concave wall with a small hole about eye height. It was probably large enough for a Pokémon to pass through, but much too small for a person. Standing near the hole was the man in red, holding a box, accompanied by a woman in a similar outfit.

“You told me this tunnel went through!” said the woman.

“Yeah, and my guy said it did!” said the man, “And, uh, I guess if your definition of going through is ‘air can pass from one side to the other’–!”

“Ugh, not this again!” said the woman, “ _Now_ what’re we gonna do? Our guys in Mauville aren’t gonna wait–!”

“You two aren’t going anywhere!” said Laura, striding right up to them, “Give us that prototype back right now!”

“Aw crap, it’s you guys again!” said the man in red.

“You mean the kids who _humiliated_ you?” said the woman, “Tch. You made a fool of yourself _and_ made Team Magma look bad!”

The woman took a Pokéball from her belt.

“But we won’t make that same mistake again,” she said, “We’ll beat you and _then_ figure out how we’re getting to Mauville! Zubat, take them!”

“Y-yeah!” said the man in red, taking a Pokéball from his pocket, “You go too, Poochyena!”

The Team Magma members threw their Pokéballs, and their Pokémon took the field. Laura knew Poochyena would be another easy win, but she’d never fought a Zubat before.

“Two on one…?” said Steven.

“Nope!” said Laura, “You’re helping too!”

“What? But I can’t battle–!”

“Well, now’s as good a time as any to learn, don’t you think?”

Laura took a Pokéball from her fanny pack.

“Seedot, let’s use you!”

Laura’s Seedot popped from its Pokéball and faced the opposing Pokémon with a look of determination in its eyes.

Steven held Beldum’s Pokéball in his hands for a bit before gripping it tightly. He tossed the Pokéball with more conviction than before.

“Beldum! I’m counting on you!”

Beldum took its place next to Seedot.

“Seedot, you take Poochyena! Nature power!”

“Beldum, uh… attack Zubat!”

Seedot’s attack was dependent on the environment to determine the effect; since they were in a cave, it generated a small rockfall above Poochyena. Beldum zoomed forward and slammed into Zubat, knocking it out of the air. It was a powerful attack, but Beldum seemed to suffer from the recoil.

“Oh, so you must know Take Down…” said Steven.

The Team Magma thugs’ Pokémon recovered. They had both taken a huge hit, but they had some fight left.

“Zubat, use leech life on Seedot!”

“Poochyena, attacking Beldum’s no good! You attack Seedot too–with bite!”

Both Pokémon rushed for Seedot; the seed Pokémon jumped and started to panic.

“Beldum, protect Seedot with Take Down!”

Beldum rushed forward, knocking Zubat out of the way. Only Poochyena’s attack landed, and Seedot’s high defense stat reduced some of the damage. Zubat couldn’t take the force of Beldum’s second attack and collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

“Seedot, take out Poochyena! Nature power!”

Seedot’s attack generated another cascade of rocks, knocking out Poochyena. The Magma thugs recalled their Pokémon.

“Ugh! I can’t believe we lost to kids!” said the woman.

“We won, fair and square,” said Laura, “Now hand over that prototype!”

“No way!” said the man, “I got an idea!”

The man turned and chucked the package through the hole in the wall as Laura and Steven looked on in shock. Even the woman seemed surprised.

“What the _hell_ was that for?!” she sputtered.

“We can call our guys in Mauville to come pick it up!” said the man, “It’ll take ages for these twerps to get to Verdanturf from here, but our guys are closer!”

“Wow,” said the woman, “You did something smart for once.”

“Haha, I bet the boss will praise me for sure!” said the man, “That’s more than enough to make up for last time! And with that–we’re outta here!”

The grunts made a break for it, pushing past the trainers and their Pokémon. Laura and Steven watched them go in disbelief.

“No…!” said Steven, “I won my first battle, and it’s for nothing…?”

“Ugh!” said Laura, “That was so unfair!”

“We have to tell my father!” said Steven, “Someone in Verdanturf must be able to get there before they do–!”

“Excuse me?” a light voice floated through the hole in the wall, “Did someone drop this?”

Steven and Laura rushed to the opening. A young woman with brown hair and a kind smile was standing there, holding the package. It was a little banged up, but seemed alright otherwise.

“We did!” said Steven. The woman passed the package to him.

“What crazy timing!” said Laura, “Thank you so much!”

“Yes, thank you!!” said Steven.

“Oh, it was no trouble, really,” said the woman, “I come here every day to talk to my boyfriend from Rustboro. Though, from the looks of things, he’s late…”

“Every day…?” said Steven, “It must be tough, being separated like this.”

“Oh, no,” said the woman, “I’m fine waiting for him. He comes here and keeps digging this tunnel with his bare hands, and I come here to encourage him. He was the one who put this hole here.”

“That’s amazing,” said Steven, “But also a bit sad… I can ask my father if there’s a smaller, quieter drill your boyfriend can borrow. That way you can see each other sooner.”

“Oh, that’s so kind of you,” said the woman, “I would be very grateful if you did. Now, this package is important, isn’t it? You should take care of that, first. I’m in no hurry.”

“Thank you again!” said Steven. He nodded to Laura.

“Let’s go back.”

“Right.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura and Steven return to the Devon Corporation's headquarters to return the recovered prototype.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got to have a lot of fun with the worldbuilding in this chapter, haha...

Steven led the way back to Rustboro, package under his arm and practically brimming with pride. Laura could hardly blame him; she was feeling fairly proud herself. Watching Steven overcome his unease and direct his Pokémon in battle... she wondered if this his how parents feel, watching their children take their first steps as trainers.

However, something kept nagging at the back of her mind. The Team Magma grunts had escaped, perhaps to report back to their boss. How many more Team Magma members were there? And what did Devon have that was important enough for them to try to steal twice?

Steven took Laura into the Devon building and up several flights of stairs to the top office. Laura had never seen anything like it in her life: the walls were lined with display cases filled with rare stones, and a huge wood table stood in the center of the room, surrounded by black leather couches. At the back of the room was a matching wood desk, and behind the desk sat a man whom Laura assumed was the president of Devon. He had the same color hair as Steven, and a similar-looking face.

“Ah!” the man rose as they approached his desk, “Steven, you’re back! And is that–?”

“It is. Laura and I recovered the prototype.”

“Splendid!” the man clapped his hands and turned to Laura, “You must be Laura, then?”

Laura nodded.

“My name is Joseph Stone,” said the man, “I am the president of the Devon Corporation, and Steven’s father. Steven told me that you helped him out the other day, as well. I’ll have to thank you in some way for all you’ve done…”

“Mr. Stone, can I ask you something?” asked Laura, “What’s in that package?”

“Huh? Oh, it’s top secret Devon business…”

“Well, Team Magma seemed to know what it was, because they tried to steal it. Twice.”

Mr. Stone gulped.

“Well, in that case, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to tell you…” he said, “Inside the box is a prototype for a device that revives Pokémon from fossils.”

“What?” asked Laura, “Is that even possible…?”

“Until now, no,” said Mr. Stone, “But if this device works, it could be a huge breakthrough. Pokémon that have been extinct for millions of years could walk the earth again! Scientists could study their behavior and habits directly, and trainers like you could get to know them yourselves! Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

Laura worried about the drawbacks to bringing back Pokémon from the distant past (the old horror flick _Jurassic PokéPark_ came to mind), but she nodded anyway.

“In any case,” said Mr. Stone, “This prototype is vital to our project, and I’m very grateful that you recovered it. In return, I’d like to give you a gift.”

Mr. Stone pressed a button on one of the machines on his desk.

“Isabelle, bring me a Pokénav.”

 _“Right away, sir,”_ a voice answered over the speaker. After a few minutes, a woman wearing green walked in and gave Mr. Stone a small box before leaving again.

“This is a brand-new Pokénav,” said Mr. Stone, “It’s so new, it won’t be hitting the market until next week! But I’d like you to have an advance copy as a token of my gratitude.”

“Um,” said Laura, “What’s a Pokénav?”

“Goodness, you don’t know?” said Mr. Stone, “The Pokémon Navigator–Pokénav for short–is _only_ the latest innovation in trainer tech! We’ve been advertising it for months!”

“I’m from a pretty small town, so…” said Laura.

“Ah, well then, I guess that’s understandable,” Mr. Stone nodded to himself, “We’ll have to increase our advertising reach… Anyway, for trainers, the Pokénav is going to be _the_ most indispensable tool since the invention of the Pokéball. Gone are the days of having to guess your Pokémon’s abilities and skills! With the Pokénav, you can see information about your Pokémon with the press of a button: its attacks, stats, and even its gender are all there!”

“Oh, that’s really handy!” said Laura.

“It does more than just that!” Mr. Stone went on, “The Pokénav is an all-in-one sort of tool. Coordinators can use it check on their Pokémon’s condition for contests, and it comes with a detailed map of the Hoenn region, so you’ll never get lost. And–the feature I’m most proud of–it doubles as a cellular phone! Now trainers who wish to battle each other again and again just have to trade Pokénav numbers via infrared, and they’ll be able to schedule battles whenever they want! And, I must say, the Pokénav is _much_ cheaper than some of those fancy cell phones on the market today. I wanted to make it accessible to young trainers, you see. Well? What do you think?”

“All that, and you’re just _giving_ it to me?” asked Laura.

“Well, I am a generous man,” said Mr. Stone, “But more than that, you’ve really helped us out the last couple of days, so I want you to have this Pokénav. Take it–it’s yours!”

“Wow… thank you, Mr. Stone!”

“No, no, thank _you_!”

Mr. Stone handed her the box–it had an image of the device on the front. She opened it up to find a small, round, yellow-orange machine, with a blue button in the center. She carefully clipped the Pokénav to her fanny pack.

“You can have one too, Steven,” said Mr. Stone, “Isabelle has several of them at her desk. You can pick one up later.”

“Thank you…”

“Now that that’s done, I have a small favor to ask of you,” Mr. Stone continued, “I have a special order for a certain Captain Stern in Slateport city, but everyone’s been so busy lately that nobody can take the time to get it to him. Would you do me a favor and take it to him for me?”

“Slateport? That’s kinda far…” said Laura. She knew where it was relative to Littleroot, but wasn’t sure how best to get there from here.

“I know it’s out of the way, but I know someone who can get you there,” said Mr. Stone, “I have a friend named Mr. Briney who lives on Route 104–the Petalburg side. He runs a small ferry service from his house, and he can take you to Slateport.”

“Oh! I can probably do that, then.”

“Thank you very much. And beware of that Magma lot–I’ve heard a lot about them, and also about a rival group called Aqua. Both groups seem to be making trouble lately, so go with caution and care.”

Mr. Stone reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a small, brown parcel, which he handed to Laura. Laura tucked it into her fanny pack, noticing that “Stern, Slateport Shipyard” was written on one side.

The machine on Mr. Stone’s desk crackled.

_“Mr. Stone, your two-o-clock is calling in.”_

“Oh, right!” Mr. Stone, “Unfortunately, I have to take this now. But thank you again, Laura. Please come back to visit any time. Goodbye!”

Steven nodded to Laura.

“That’s our cue to leave,” he said quietly. Laura followed Steven out of the room.

On their way back downstairs, they stopped by Isabelle’s desk, and Steven picked out a Pokénav. He led Laura all the way to the front lobby before he stopped and turned around.

“Thank you again,” he said, “For… for everything. You’re leaving now, aren’t you? To go to Slateport?”

“Huh? Weren’t we gonna ask your dad about you becoming a trainer?”

“Oh, that’s okay. I think I can do it myself, actually.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah…” Steven fidgeted a little with the ribbon tied around his neck, “Getting to battle alongside you today… well, I feel a lot more confident that maybe I _can_ become a trainer after all. We won with both of us working together with our Pokémon, and Beldum really helped a lot. Maybe if father understands that, he’ll let me go on my own journey.”

Steven took something from his pocket.

“I’d like to give you a gift of my own, to thank you,” he said, “I found this a while ago, but I already have one like it.

Steven held out his hand; a small, grey rock rested in his palm. In the center was a darkish, greenish imprint of a leaf.

“This is a leaf stone,” he said, “It’s a fossil of a leaf from a plant that lived long ago. I like it because it’s a fossil, but I think some grass-type Pokémon have a special connection with stones like this. I want you to have it, Laura.”

Laura wasn’t sure how to respond.

“T-thank you…”

She carefully took the stone from Steven and put it in an empty pocket of her fanny pack.

“Seeing you battle has inspired me to get better at battling myself,” Steven continued, “So, if it’s not too much trouble, can we register our Pokénavs? When I’m ready… I’d like to battle you one day.”

“Sure!” said Laura. She unclipped her Pokénav and opened it up, revealing a screen. One of the options on the main menu was “match call”–this must have been the cell phone feature. She selected it, and it presented her with several options: “call”, “check”, and “register”. She and Steven held their Pokénavs close together and hit “register” at the same time. The devices pinged, signaling that the transaction was complete.

“Well…” said Steven, “Good luck getting to Slateport. I hope we cross paths again someday.”

“Of course we will,” said Laura, “See you around, Steven!”

“Yeah… See you, Laura.”

Steven waved as Laura turned around and headed for the Pokémon Center. He watched until she disappeared behind some buildings down the street, then returned his hand to his side.

“I really hope you’re right…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Here](https://quilofire.deviantart.com/art/three-kids-318039336) is my design for Young Steven, in case anyone's curious.

**Author's Note:**

> Side note, the "current" Rustboro gym leader is Brandon. He'll later retire as a gym leader and leave the gym to Roxanne, one of the brightest trainers in his gym. Scott will invite him to head the Battle Pyramid in the currently-under-construction Battle Frontier.


End file.
